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Last evening PBS re-broadcast the superb documentary "The Rape of Europa", a two-hour film on the Nazi pillaging of public and private art collections across the continent, and their destruction of the world's architectural and artistic patrimony. Based on the fascinating book by Lynn Nicholas, I wrote about this series when it aired previously. Among the many remarkable stories was that of a little French librarian whose work as a sort of art spy eventually led to the restitution of numerous works to the families and institutions whose pieces had been stolen. (N.B. I am still dumbfounded by the fact that no one has yet, to my knowledge, made a film about the life and exploits of Mme. Valland: what a story there is to tell about her heroism.)
During the course of re-watching the film, another detail caught my attention which I had not focused on previously. In all sincerity, both the book and the documentary are so chock-full of remarkable stories – sometimes horrific, sometimes inspiring – that the mind does not know where to focus, so overwhelming is the subject matter and the stories that are being told. In this particular instance however, the filmmakers made reference to the fact that, surely unbeknownst to many, the U.S. Army collected and archived an enormous amount of paintings by Nazi-approved artists, often portraits of Hitler and his henchmen.
Readers may or may not be aware that Adolf Hitler started out life as an artist, but was denied entry to Vienna's Academy of Fine Art since he was not a painter of any great talent. In the documentary, we are taken to a U.S. Army storage vault, where a number of watercolors by Hitler are kept in a drawer. As the camera pans around the room, we see that there are hundreds of paintings being stored there. Glimpses of just a few of them show Nazi propaganda themes and the types of happy-peasant genre paintings that all dictators, not just Hitler, usually tend to enjoy.
Perhaps not surprisingly, given the size of Hitler's propaganda machine, after the war the efforts of American forces to get these things out of the public eye resulted in the carrying away of many thousands of pieces. These were kept in military hands for decades, until the early 1980s when the U.S. and then-West Germany came to an agreement about the return of these pieces. A committee was formed to work on the repatriation of most of the works, which in the end numbered about 6,000 pieces.
The remaining 400 pieces were kept by the United States and are archived at the U.S. Army Center of Military History and the U.S. Air Force Art and Museum Branch. As the narrator explained in the documentary, these pieces are often so polemic that the military, in its wisdom, believes they are too controversial to put on display. However, some of the works are put into appropriate exhibitions when the occasion warrants, such as for an exhibition at the Holocaust Museum or in a retrospective in one of the military museums on different aspects of World War II.
For my part, I am very happy that the U.S. military has the common sense not to put images of evil mass murderers on display, unlike those who enjoy wearing t-shirts with images of Che Guevara or displaying Warhol posters of Chairman Mao. The concealment of these images for the sake of public decency also brings home to us the great power of art to influence the human mind. Manipulation of the image can lead to remarkably inaccurate understandings of individuals.
For example, by all accounts Hitler was, in person, an undistinguished, pudgy midget; not surprising as both he and most of his Nazgul started out as a bunch of nobody-social climbers. Yet through the use of image manipulation, their propaganda art portrays them as giant, heroic figures. Similarly, consider the figure of Josef Stalin which we have been conditioned to accept as one of a giant bear of a man, as a result of the statues, portraits, and posters created of him during his reign of terror. In truth, "Uncle Joe" was only about 5 foot 6 inches tall – shorter in fact than the rather petite Harry Truman, who stood 5 foot 9 inches. This is nothing against those of shorter stature, of course, but it is often the case that smaller-scaled men of evil intent – be they Hitler, Napoleon, or other monsters of history – like to imagine themselves as being tall, and because of the power they yield no one has the courage to make fun of them to their faces.
The fact that the Nazi paintings are safely housed in military hands, away from public eyes, is a very good thing; no one wants that ridiculously tacky image of wee little Hitler dressed as a knight but looking more like St. Joan of Arc with a mustache hanging at the National Gallery. The long-term question of what to do with these Nazi works however, is an open-ended one, and one which I suspect neither I nor the contemporary readers of this blog will ever answer. Burning would be too good for them, frankly, particularly after the many wonderful things which the Nazis themselves unfortunately burned. Will future generations, perhaps a century from now, find these images too remote in time to do any harm, and take them out of storage, or will they eventually simply rot away in their drawers and cabinets?


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Chicago's Best Dining Experiences
Screw the Michelin guide and its ilk. Like the SAT or personality tests, reductive rating systems that award mini constellations, forks, spoons, or pepper shakers can never see what's in a restaurant's heart.
The endurance of these systems often encourage readers to skip the meat of a review and go straight to the final number as an arbiter of whether they should call for reservations.
Some of these systems are just plain impossible. Consider the S. Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants in the World. Did Gordon Ramsay U.K. really improve 11 spots in a year while its proprietor was out traveling the world berating and dehumanizing line cooks and restaurateurs? In one year, did Charlie Trotter's, which has been fine-tuning things for 20 years, really suck it up so bad as to drop from 31 to 38 and lose the title of Chicago's best restaurant to upstart Alinea?
Dining as a Game
These reductive systems encourage a foodie culture where people trade hot or important restaurant visits like sports cards, looking for that rare error card no one else has: "Dude, did you check out that spot that has the prix fixe animal eyeball menu? Only six people can get in, and it's held every third lunar cycle in front of the grave of Jack Johnson at Graceland Cemetery."
Most of all, the reductive systems ignore the storefronts, the mom-and-pop spots, and the ethnic joints, where the food and the experiences are just as singular and important to me as the experiences and food at the four-star gems. I truly believe that sitting on the hood of my Ford Escape while chowing down on Uncle John's hot links and ribs, or sidling in to melamine booths at Khan BBQ in what was once a smoky dingy cab joint, for the best chicken boti maybe in the United States is as charming, honest, satisfying, and unique as a nine-courser at the French Laundry.
These reflections were spurred by my colleague Ed Levine, who asked me to name my five favorite dining experiences in Chicago. I think the above testimonial gives you an idea where my spots derive from. Levine named his New York spots according to the following criteria:
How welcome do I feel? Do I feel well taken care of? Am I having a good time? Does the restaurant make my dining companions and me feel special? Can I easily hear what the people I am with are saying? Is the service personal without being intrusive? Does the energy in a restaurant match or even elevate my own? How does the restaurant's look and feel affect how its customers look and feel? Most of all, I want the restaurant experience to be about the food, the people I'm eating with, and me—not about the chef or the server or the sommelier.
I'd say most of Levine's criteria holds true for me too, though maybe in a more informal context. It's definitely a personal thing that won't hold for all my readers, but I like to come as I am, when I choose. It's not a "disrespect for the chef or the food" kind of thing, more of a lifestyle decision. I know some people get all snooty about decorum, but I honestly believe if I were at the Everest Room (which with alabaster and gold accents looks a bit like Liberace's palace) and the guy at the next table was wearing shorts, it wouldn't affect my dining experience, as long as he was having a good time and enjoying his food.
Likewise, the essence of food as a gathering place, an opportunity to break bread with family and friends and to celebrate life and love and culture is just as important. Though, rules are always meant to be broken. You might not expect from the discussion above that I'd pick a place like Alinea with its pre-fixe menus and utter precision. The thing about Alinea is that they're flexible enough and empathetic enough to respond to your needs if something doesn't work for you, and not from a begrudging money driven motivation, but based in the idea of truly providing the best experience.
The unifying feature of all of my choices is that the spots below represent the true personality of the driving force behind the restaurant. These restaurants make no compromises or nods to what they think people want, but reflect who the chef or owner really is, but ironically do so without ego trumping all. I'll admit naming my own "best" list is probably just as much a reductive folly as Michelin, etc. Certainly it's subjective, but at the very least my choices reflect a search for a spirit of naked passion, fearlessness, and lust for eating, cooking, and dining, and that's something I can behind.
Note: Toward this end, the chef bar at Avenues, which was a beautiful reflection of the emotional, whimsical, and hardcore independent spirit of Graham Elliot Bowles would have made this list, but Bowles left recently to open his own place this summer, and therefore the experience no longer exists.
Three years ago, I was a website designer and e-commerce manager. I was also a rabid food enthusiast. Soccer moms burning up the phone lines at Ticketmaster trying to wrangle Miley Cyrus tickets had nothing on me. I once called the French Laundry for three days in a row and endured hours of busy signals to score a reservation. I'd waited in line for five hours to sample barbecue oysters from Uglesich's in New Orleans the week it closed for good. Still, the idea of writing about my passion seemed as audacious as running for president of the United States.
My first meal at Alinea changed all that. Here was a spot where the chef hung out until 5 a.m. working on a new menu every few days or weeks after working 14 hours of prep and service. Here's a spot that eschewed tired porcelain in favor of custom designed sculptural art/service pieces from designer Martin Kastner. Here's a spot where wine pours by the glass complemented the food instead of honoring the ego of the sommelier or a wealthy patron's desire for a showy trophy Bordeaux. Here's a spot where black truffle isn't shaved by pound, but where it's gelled and stuffed into rich egg yolk pasta and it blows up in your mouth. Here's a spot where almost every aspect of dining has been challenged and reimagined. The idea that you could be so driven and disciplined to work so hard, to accept nothing but innovation as a standard was extraordinary, especially to a tired burned out corporate American. I wanted that for myself, and inspired by the example of working for a single purpose to be the best at something you loved, I became a food writer. 1723 North Halsted, Chicago IL 60614; 312-867-0110; alinea-restaurant.com
(Full disclosure: I'm a contributor to the Alinea cookbook released this fall, but the restaurant inspired a career long before I'd ever met the extraordinary folks behind the action.)
Mary Madison's joint in Auburn Gresham is the Cajun-Creole version of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. It's one of those places where every single thing on the menu is extraordinary and slightly magical, where the swampy brown etouffee is smoky and indulgent, where the fried green tomatoes are toothsome and tangy. You keep ordering and ordering and wait for her to slip up, but the sweet potatoes, aka Creole Candied Sweets, have the lulling perfume of a spice plantation and the red beans and rice would make any Monday in New Orleans right.
Some people have mistaken the long wait for food as a service mis-step, but the truth is Madison cooks everything from scratch, sautéing off the trinity at the drop of the order. There's no warm and serve à la minute pre-cooked BS going on here. She cooks like you and your momma cook, only ten times better. She's as good as anything in the Big Easy, I guarantee. From Leah Chase to Paul Prudhomme, they'd all love her. Madison is about feeding the soul, and she usually comes out of the kitchen after a meal to make sure yours is satisfied. 1525 West 79th Street, Chicago IL 60620; 773- 994-6375; cajunjoynt.com
Burt's Place
Eating at Burt's Place is like indulging in a post-coital smoke, a heavily ice cubed deep glass of fine bourbon, and a few slices of the finest pizza around while Chet Baker or Ella Fitzgerald croons a lullaby in the background. In other words, my own personal version of heaven. From the ham radios to the giant wire whisk hanging from the ceiling to the wooden trivets hanging from worn dining tables, Burt's is the land that time forgot, but never should have. Burt's is a place of languor where you slink in to the booths and exhale burden away.
The place is an emporium, an apothecary, a diorama of the wants and desires of its principled proprietor, Burt Katz. Katz makes each Sicilian bakery style pie by hand in decades old seasoned steel pans from ingredients he picks out each morning. Katz hasn't shaved his Professor Dumbledoresque white beard since he quit his last corporate job in the seventies, and he takes orders on a rotary dial phone, only having once used a cell phone at the behest of some local foodies last year. Burt and his wife Sharon treat the newest customer to the third generation Burt's visitor as if they were the oldest of family, not as a schtick, but because they love what they do and who they do it for. 8541 North Ferris Avenue, Morton Grove IL 60053; 847-965-7997
I watched the original Karate Kid 43 times the year it came out on video. Blackbird is my culinary Karate Kid. Regarding high-end to super high-end restaurants, I've dined nowhere more and with such consistent and satisfying results. Though, at this point, saying you love Chef Paul Kahan, at least in Chicago, is like saying you loved the Thriller album in 1984. Find me someone who didn't.
But my love goes way back. If Chef Kahan was still expediting on a daily basis or working the line on occasion, he's the guy I'd send my kids and grandkids to train under if they wanted to become chefs. He'd teach them that the essence of life is about pork, pork, and more pork, not taking yourself too seriously, but also treating your food, the quality of it, the sources of it, and the preparation of it as if your life depended on it.
Even now that he's focusing on all his restaurants, the spot hasn't lost a step under Mike Sheerin. In fact, it's better in that it melds Kahan's vision with Sheerin's whimsy and wit. And à la Ed Levine's criteria, if you want energy, this is the energizer bunny of electric restaurants in Chicago. In this same vein, you'll also find Kahan protégé Paul Virant and his spot Vie. I like to call Virant the one-room schoolhouse of old school chefs, a guy who pickles, preserves, and cures like a pioneer. It was a close call between Vie and Blackbird, but Blackbird was my first love. 619 W Randolph Street, Chicago IL; 312-715-0708
Hot Doug's Sausage Superstore and Encased Meats Emporium
Hot Doug's is kinda like the Masa of encased meats. If owner Doug Sohn can't make it in, like earlier this year when he broke his leg in a camping accident, he closes the place down. He plays the music he wants, keeps the hours he wants (10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.), and decorates how he wants (condiment slathered Britney Spears anyone?).
However, that doesn't mean you don't have tons of choices. You can keep it punk rock with a basic windy city salad dog, featuring caramelized meats—the best example of its kind in the city—or take your sausage upscale style with choices like Blue Cheese Pork Sausage with Toasted Walnut Mustard Cream and Fiery Apple Salsa or Quarter-Pound Beef Knockwurst with Horseradish Mustard, Applewood-Smoked Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Lardons. And the basic hand-cut skin on fries are probably the best in the city, but for some that's only if you skip the sea salt dusted duck fat fried weekend only option. 3324 North California Street, Chicago IL; 773-279-9550
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subset: commoncrawl


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due to the snowdeal holiday travel schedule santa arrived at the snowdeal household on the eve of new years eve ( much to odin's chagrin ). and i was very surprised to get a nifty timex ironman watch from kris and odin! no more jostling with my phone to check my pace with runkeeper ( not to mention the fact that gps tracking sucks the battery dry on my android phone )!
so i thought i'd give it a try on a 13 miler for the final run of 2012. ooohhhh boy does it ever play into my obsessive compulsive tendencies. now i can glance at my wrist every tenth of a mile to check my pace and count calories 🙂
a 9:52 pace is a pretty average, relatively easy half marathon pace these days while trudging around in slippery, wintery slop in 10F temps. it's about a 4:15 marathon pace. if it was dry and not sloppy i could probably easily hit 9:15 minute miles which is a 4:00 marathon pace and pretty good time for me given the fact that i am still subject to the the brutal math of Being A Clydesdale, even after dropping 90 pounds. i think if i lose a few more pounds and focus on developing my speed i can probably hit a 8:30 pace which is around a 3:40 marathon time and about my upper limit.
with a final 13 miler, i've ran 2089 miles over the 68 weeks since i started running again and 1,800 miles in 2012!


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Photographer Michael Wee and painter/writer Tom Carment, have chronicled their experience of some great walks of Australia.
Combining photographs, paintings and words, the book provides anecdotal experience along with the history of the places traversed. It is nostalgic and full of awe for the wild and varied landscapes that are distinctly Australian.
The book has a bit of everything: history, humour and art. You may find things you are familiar with, such as the Coast Walk in NSW, or unfamiliar things such as The Overland Track of Cradle Mountain in Tasmania.
Available here.


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Way back in the olden days, telephone switches were run by (usually) women with big boards where plugs on retractable reels of wire would be plugged in to connect the calls. There once was a man named Strowager, who was an undertaker. It so happened that the wife of his main competitor [apparenlty there is competition for dead people; who knew?] worked at the local exchange for his town.
Strowager became convinced that said wife was connecting calls for Strowager to her husband instead, so he went off, as you do, and invented the automatic telephone exchange. There's a beautifully reconstructed one at Motat, for those Aucklanders who haven't seen it, in which you can call between phones in the room and watch it run.
Fast forward a bit to the two Steves, who made their money originally by selling "blue boxes". Blue boxes transmitted a series of tones into the line which would make the local switch think the next call was a maintenance test call, and give it away for free. We in the industry of course think that giving away free calls is a Bad Thing, so something had to be done.
The result was the introduction of SS7 - Signaling System no. 7. Yes, I'm pretty sure there was an SS6. No, I don't know about SS1-5, I don't think they existed. Maybe it was like dBase II, which was actually the first one, but I digress.
SS7 loosely follows the OSI layered architecture. It took the signaling out of band - amongst other things this means blue boxes don't work any more.
MTP stands for Message Transfer Part [not Protocol]. In the OSI architecture, MTP1 is the physical layer. This layer defines the physical aspects of the E1, which is the basic digital trunk used in most parts of the world. Not much more needs to be discussed about MTP1, it's a wire.
MTP2 is the link layer protocol. It introduces a very important identifier: the Point Code. In the ITU flavour of MTP, the point code is 14 bits long. The astute reader will note that this means there can only be a relatively small number of PCs in the whole world. So in addition to that there is also another indicator field which classifies the PC as international, national active or national standby.
International PCs have a different format to national ones. New Zealand has only a handful (something like 10, although I don't remember exactly how many) of international PCs allocated to it's gateways. Generally 2 per international gateway.
In the national network the use of the standby PC is useful when the signaling point in question does not need to be visible outside the network. A BSC, for example, would probably have a national standby PC.
In any case that means that within each country, a further bunch of codes are available. Enough to go around, anyway.
MTP2 provides instant detection of link faults. While idling, special packets are sent to continously fill the line. Should either end stop receiving them, they will know within milliseconds that there is a problem. Spanning tree on Ethernet typically needs about 30s to switch over, so in some respects MTP was well ahead of it's time.
MTP3 is the network layer protocol. When PC A wishes to signal to PC B, MTP3 takes care of routing between A and B. A and B could be directly connected, or they may be connected via one or more STPs - Signaling Transfer Points - which are, essentially, SS7 routers.
What if A and B are in different countries? A and B can only route to each other if they have international PCs, right? Because otherwise they could have the same national PC. It turns out that that isn't a problem for a voice call.
Nevertheless, MTP3 includes message types that possibly can go between switches that are not physically connected, so it does perform routing functions. Routing tables are generally quite static - telephone switches don't tend to come and go - with failover being the main automatic routing function.
The E1 is divided into 32 64kbps channels. One is reserved for timing synch, leaving 31 available for traffic including signaling. Traditionally timeslot 16 is used for SS7 if there are voice channels on the trunk, but MTP could use all of it. High capacity signaling nodes such as the HLR or IN may do so.
Each timeslot used is designated a Signaling Link, identified by a Signaling Link Code. A collection of Signaling Links is a Linkset, and Linksets may be combined into MTP routes. In this way many slow channels are combined into a quicker logical one, with great allowances for redundancy - since without signaling, there are no phone calls.
MTP is in the process of being largely replaced by SIGTRAN - SIGnaling TRANsport - which provides IP versions of MTP2 and MTP3, depending on the situation. Since SIGTRAN runs on IP networks - typically gigabit ethernet - we are no longer constrained to have lots of 2Mb cables between boxes to get reasonable signaling capacity. A pair of CAT6 cables (for redundancy) does the job for even the biggest beasts. The higher layers of the stack see the lower SIGTRAN layers as if they were traditional MTP, and are unchanged.
Most of our systems at 2degrees are connected via SIGTRAN. Only a few use MTP for various not very important reasons.
TUP - Telephony User Part, ISUP - ISDN User Part
A short digression to explain why I don't need everyone to have an international PC to make an international voice call.
TUP is no longer widely used, having been supplanted by ISUP, so I won't talk about it here, although it basically works the same way.
When an ISUP switch ("local office") in Auckland wants to place a voice call to a number in Australia, it analyses the number in it's routing tables and comes up with the point code of another switch that can connect it. The second switch likely has no endpoints - no phones - and in that case is known as a transit switch. The transit switch will do the same, and so on, until the call reaches an international switch.
The international switch passes the call to the next international switch, where it may go through several hops (although to Australia it typically wouldn't of course) and then into Australian transit switches, and finally to the destination local office which will make someone's phone ring.
The ISUP call starts with a message called IAM - Initial Address Message. It contains all the information about the calling party (CgPty) and some but not necessarily all of the information about the called party. This is to allow for people with slow fingers on POTS phones. For now we'll ignore SAMs. One particularly important part of the ISUP messaging is the CIC, the Circuit Identification Code, which the switches use to pick a trunk for the voice channel.
The IAM is passed along to the next switch and so on until it arrives at the destination. The destination checks the number is correct and passes back an Address Complete Message. At this point, the phone begins to ring. ACM is passed back along the chain to the originating switch.
When the CdPty goes off hook, the destination sends back Answer Message (ANM). As each switch in the train receives the ANM, they connect through their respective trunks and the voice circuit forms. Also, they begin timing the call for the purposes of billing.
Good times are had by all until someone hangs up. Whichever end that is initiates a Release (REL) message which is passed along the chain until the other end gets it, deallocates the trunk, stops the billing timer, and then sends back Release Complete (RLC). This goes back the other way and all the other trunks are torn down.
In this manner, it is not necessary for the Auckland local office to know any international PCs, and likewise for the Australian local office. They only need to know the PC of the next transit switch, and the entire signaling conversation is between adjacent switches.
The local NZ version of ISUP is known as PTC331 and all NZ carriers are required to abide by it. It's a subset of ITU ISUP dropping lots of stuff that isn't often used.
SCCP and TCAP
So, it's fine for basic voice that not everyone have an international PC. But what if I want to send an SMS? ISUP is for voice calls, and MTP3 can't tell me anything about the relationship between a phone number and a Point Code.
As new desired applications appeared - the first big driver being tollfree (0800/0508) calling - MTP's limitations becamse clear. Thus two new protocols were introduced - Signaling Connection Control Part and Transaction Capabilities Application Part.
You can think of SCCP as a new network layer protocol that uses all of MTP as the link layer. It has two important parameters, the Global Title, and the SubSystem Number.
SCCP allows direct communication between two signaling points no matter where they are in the world. It's the backbone of high level telephony - mobile would not exist without it, and certainly not international roaming.
The GT looks just like a phone number. In fact, the Service Centre Number configured into your handset for SMS is a GT. It's the GT of our SMSC. GTs may be physical - one GT = one machine - or they may be virtual - one GT = many machines. The translation between GT and PC is peformed by the STP. Being effectively a phone number, it is globally unique - hence the name - and routable around the world.
The SSN is an identifier for the application - like the TCP port number. Multiple applications could run on the same device (also like TCP/IP), and in that case they would have different SSNs. SSN 6 is an HLR, 8 is an MSC, 146 is CAMEL.
TCAP allows for an end to end transaction to occur. SCCP transports TCAP from point to point; TCAP allows an application to perform a dialogue. The dialogue could be a simple request and response, or it may be an ongoing conversation - for example CAMEL uses a dialogue that lasts for the duration of a call. Unique dialogues are identified by TCAP dialog IDs at each end.
I'll end this post here by saying, ready for next time, that SCCP allows one machine to address another anywhere in the world, and TCAP allows them to converse reliably.


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Alistar is one of my main champs, but I notice that I almost never kill anyone with him. Just one or two by luck, so I normally build myself as tank.
Is there any build or anything that can help me? Or is it impossible? Even if I can't be a super killing machine I would like to make more damage.


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Melky Cabrera… Next Year
by Eno Sarris //
The former Yankee outfielder has quite a year in the powder blues. Melky Cabrera was drafted 260th, on average. He ended the season ranked 122nd by B-Rank. Where should he be drafted next year?
Luck on batted balls is always the first place to check. Cabrera had a .332 BABIP this year, tops in his career and much better than his career .299 number. But he's a reasonably fleet-of-foot outfielder (if, perhaps, in the Bobby Abreu mode) and he hits more ground ball than fly balls. He can expect a better BABIP than most. Lo and behold, his xBABIP this year was .330, and his career xBABIP is .319. This could have been regression toward what should have been his career mean.
Power is the second outlier in his statistical profile. His .174 ISO this year is a career high, more than fifty points higher than his .123 career ISO. He was more aggressive at the plate this year — his walk rate hit a career-low and his strikeout rate was a career-high — but it seems to have worked. Can a guy with a career 1.52 ground-ball-to-fly-ball ratio put up close to 20 home runs again next year?
Probably. Other players with similar profiles — Adam Jones (1.52 GB/FB over the last three years), Michael Young (1.51), and Brandon Phillips (1.44) — have done so fairly consistently. And if you look at fly-ball distance, as Jeff Zimmermann did here, you'll see that all the Melkman did this year was recover his old fly-ball distance. He hit balls an average of 278 feet in 2009, 263 feet last year, and 274 feet again this year. Maybe something just went wrong last year.
There is a caveat. The 27-year-old outfielder did steal 20 bases this year, but his career high before was 13. He was also only successful on 67% of his attempts, which is exactly break-even for the steal to be a worthwhile thing. Maybe the Royals don't care about that break-even point — they stole more bases than anyone in baseball — but they were successful on 73% of their attempts. So Cabrera was one of the less efficient base-stealers on the team.
Cabrera is an interesting case. He hit career highs in so many categories that it only seems natural that he will regress to his career norms. Then again, his career highs were only modest improvements when you look at the rate stats. He did manage 706 PAs this year (compared to an average of 531 over the past five seasons), so it's only natural that his counting stats looked good.
If you walk Cabrera back in the power and speed departments and give him his career BABIP, he's more likely to put up a .280 15/15 season than to approach .300 20/20 again. In most leagues, that's still a good showing, but it's more like a fourth fantasy outfielder. Treat him as such in drafts next year and in your keeper decisions.
For more fantasy outfielders, check out BloombergSports.com
2 Comments
Melky siempre ha sigo excelente pelotero. En Yankees lo alternaban y nunca le dieron la oportunidad plena para demostrar sus facultades.
Um i don't speak spanish sorry.
You like funny videos… try MONKEYBALL… a spoof on Moneyball, MLB and the Planet of the Apes.
Go Rangers! 🙂
Click the link to youtube to view the silly apes and MLB.
Enojy the game tonight.


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I have found useful tool here (All US States and counties on combo-box) its using Java script API 1.3 version.
I have downloaded the tool and trying use but its gives an store error (using version 3.1) but when I change the version to 2.8 its working fine..so how do I implement it for 3.1 version.
Is there any document or instructions ?? (Because Esri mentions that only upgrade the version no. ex. 2.8 to 3.1 )..
Software that I am using is ArcGIS Java Script API ver 3.0 & ArcGIS Server 10.1,Desktop 10.1


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University of Denver alumnus Paula Broadwell speaks at the 2012 Alumni Symposium.
Paula Broadwell, former CIA Director David Petraeus' biographer, has lost her security clearance, an Army official told NBC News on Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Broadwell's security clearance and access to classified material was suspended because of an address she gave to an alumni symposium on Oct. 26 at the University of Denver, which appeared on the video-sharing site YouTube. Broadwell holds a master's degree in international study from the school.
In the address, Broadwell talked about security at the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in an attack.
"Any time that the Army has a reason to believe that an officer has mishandled classified information, there is grounds for such action," the Army official said, referencing the YouTube clip.
The Army has been cooperating with the FBI investigation into Broadwell. "Those actions are ongoing," the Army official said.
Broadwell, a West Point graduate and former military intelligence officer, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, though she is not currently on active duty, according to Pentagon records obtained by NBC News.
Multiple government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News that Petraeus, a retired four-star general who is married, had an extramarital affair with Broadwell, 40. Broadwell, who also married, authored "All In," a book about Petraeus' leadership philosophy.
FBI investigators who looked into a series of anonymous threatening emails sent to Tampa, Fla., socialite Jill Kelley later determined they were authored by Broadwell, multiple government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News.
NBC's Jeff Black contributed to this report.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell has new details about why Jill Kelley, one of the women at the center of the scandal involving Gen. David Petraeus, initially approached an FBI agent.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Obama: GOP criticism of UN ambassador over Benghazi attack is 'outrageous'
- In 911 calls, Kelley tries to invoke diplomatic immunity
- Etan Patz suspect indicted on murder, kidnapping charges, sources say
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Our mission
The Street and Maintenance Department provides the City of El Paso with street infrastructure maintenance and traffic engineering services designed to enhance and sustain the community's comprehensive transportation network. Other responsibilities include maintaining the City's fleet and facilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
On a daily basis the Streets and Maintenance Department a number of questions from residents about a variety of topics from simple street repairs to graffiti removal to neighborhood crosswalks.
To help you find answers to questions you may have about our services we have developed this Frequently Asked Questions section. If you still can't find what you're looking for please feel free to contact us.
Helpful Resources
Anti-Graffiti Program Information
Consent forms (English) (Spanish)
State Law - Requirement's for Retail sale of Abusable Glue and/or Aerosol Paint/Volatile Chemicals Graffiti Prevention
PDF City Code - Graffiti Abatement
Bike Lanes
Temporary Traffic Control
City Ordinance - Chapter 12.30 - TEMPORARY TRAFFIC CONTROL
Traffic Control Permit
Traffic Control Permit Application
(Citizen Access Portal)
Traffic Count
Traffic Circulation Study
Downtown Traffic Circulation Study 12/11/13
Downtown Triple-A Ballpark Traffic Circulation Study
(Final Report 2-24-2014)
Bike Lanes
El Paso's streets are meant to be shared.
No matter your age, riding a bike is a great way to get exercise. Increasing physical activity can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and other chronic diseases. Regular exercise can also improve mental health and lower health care costs. A well-connected bicycle network will further the overall improvement of community health.
The City of El Paso is currently pursuing the creation of a more connected bicycle network. The City of El Paso offers several types of lanes, roadway markings and signage to create a safer and more comfortable bicycling experience.
The City has recently installed several new bicycle lanes across the City and is currently implementing many more changes to increase bicycling safety and awareness. Recently, bike lane counts at several locations were conducted to analyze the usage of bike facilities based on an average, continuous 15-hour period. This information will be incorporated into future bicycle planning efforts at the City. For example, Edgemere Boulevard, which links several neighborhoods, schools, and retail establishments, show high ridership along this eight-mile bike path.
To further the development of bicycle infrastructure, the City of El Paso is in the process of creating a bike plan. As the City continues to develop a bicycle plan, further counts will be conducted to gather ridership data providing an accurate depiction of bicycle use throughout the city. The ridership information will be used, in part, to determine locations of new bicycle facilities. Bicycle facility use will increase as the City continues to expand a safe bicycle network through the implementation of an adopted bicycle plan.


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This week I read about all this stuff to do with food for the poor and Jamie Oliver's thoughts around it. Essentially he wants to show people how to eat better on a budget and he's doing a TV show called, 'Jamie's money saving meals' and he's written a book called, 'Save with Jamie'.
Now the controversy, if you want to call it that, is apparently because of the connections he's made between a poor persons diet to productivity and comparisons made with poor folks in Italy who supposedly eat fresh pasta and veg and the alleged relative superior productivity of Eastern European people.
So it's got me thinking. I do think that you can eat well on a budget;
– a simple chickpea curry costs under a pound to make when you use canned chickpeas
– good old sweetcorn soup with a few asian spices and crusty bread can also cost £2 for feed two people
– a lovely indian spiced mixed vegetable omelette is also inexpensive when using frozen vegetables
– have you seen my BBC Good Food recipe for parsnip pancakes? If you have gram flour in the house, you could make enough for two people and them in bread as a sarnie for under a couple of quid
– if you are using tinned tomatoes, a simple tomato and basil spaghetti dish can cost around £3 for four people
However, as far as I can see, whichever way you cut it, chips are cheap. Cheaper than most healthier alternatives. If you're buying them, they are filling, you don't need any gas to cook them or water to wash plates. They are one of life's little comforts and if everything else is looking grim, the smell of fresh chips and a cuddle can do something lovely for the soul, for a bit.
So, I'm not sharing a recipe for the poor. This is not a recipe that is labelled in any such way. I'm sharing an absolutely scrummy, lightly tangy and pea-sweet, luminous, moorish and easy to cook recipe that happens to be pretty inexpensive to cook. Bonus
A lot of my mummy peers have come out of their previous careers, or have taken reduced hours. It doesn't mean our tastes have changed, we still like to eat well; as well as we always have and perhaps even better now that little mouths want to copy us. Saving a few quid along the way is a bonus though isn't it?
When I was a teen people ate pasta on a diet, for the relatively low fat content. I remember watching Oprah discussing her huge weight loss saying that she could eat pasta every day of the week and that her chef would do something completely different with pasta every day. I think this is what I love about pasta. I still haven't fallen out of love with it and am not yet bored of it. Funnily enough though, I spoke to a relative who was cooking pasta as we spoke. I asked her what sort of sauce she was making and she said, 'the normal one'. This made me chuckle. The default pasta sauce is of course some sort of tomato sauce…come on, do something different today.
One medium onion, finely diced
2 fat cloves of garlic, finely diced
2cups petite pois, defrosted
200g creme Fraiche
2-3 tsp vegetable oil
100ml water
400g pasta
Some shavings of vegetarian hard cheese
The spices; 1tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp ajwain (carom) seeds, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp turmeric, salt to taste, 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 . Put the pasta on the boil in salted water, per packet instructions. Don't forget to wash it in plenty of cold water when it is cooked
2. Heat the oil and then add the cumin seeds and carom seeds together with the turmeric and allow the seeds to sizzle before stirring in the onions and salt. Soften the onions for a couple of minutes and then add the garlic and soften until the onions are transparent.
3. Add the peas and stir in the coriander powder, coat the peas and then add the water. Bring the peas to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes. Then stir in the creme Fraiche and the back pepper and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
4. Pour the peas into a food processor and blitz it until its almost smooth. It's lovely with some texture in there, so don't try and get it completely smooth
5. Place the pea purée into the cooking pan again and stir in the pasta
6. Serve and garnish with the shavings of cheese
I am submitting my recipe to this month's Pasta Please, a monthly event by Jacqueline over at Tinned Tomatoes. This month's host is Johanna over at Green Gourmet Giraffe and the topic is long pasta.


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Taking Medication: Special Concerns in Older Adults
As many as 10 percent of people over age 65 take five or more prescription drugs, requiring them to juggle potentially dozens of pills every day
An Everyday Health Special Report
Have you ever been concerned about relapse after missing a few doses of antibiotic pills? Do medications tie knots in your stomach and make eating a chore? Did you ever forget if you've already taken a dose of medication? Then perhaps you have some idea of the medication-taking hardships older adults face every day.
Many older adults must take several medications each day as they strive to keep their health in balance and remain independent. As many as 10 percent of people over age 65 take five or more prescription drugs, requiring them to juggle potentially dozens of pills every day. Painful arthritis may make opening a pill bottle seem as difficult as crushing a stone. Failing vision might prevent some older adults from reading key warning labels or instructions.
While a medication organizer, pill bottle opener or magnifying glass can help to overcome some medication-taking obstacles, we cannot prevent the normal aging process. "Both the liver's ability to inactivate drugs and the kidney's ability to [get rid of] drugs slow with age," according to Dr. Mark H. Beers, editor in chief of The Merck Manuals and author of the widely used "Beers' criteria for inappropriate medication use by the elderly." A doctor must lower the dosage of certain drugs to prevent overmedicating and avoid causing side effects, Beers warns.
Several key factors put older adults at greater risk for reactions to medication such as falls, confusion or drowsiness, and medication-related hospital admissions. Both you and your doctor must work together to minimize potential pill-related pitfalls.
The Wrong Medication
There are a number of medications that are best avoided in older adults. "Some drugs present a high risk to the elderly and others pose low risk," Beers explains. He warns that some doctors may use high-risk medications such as over-the-counter antihistamines (diphenhydramine or chlorpheniramine), older sleeping pills (flurazepam, diazepam, meprobomate), or inappropriately used antipsychotic drugs in those suffering from dementia.
High-risk medications are more likely to cause side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, or urinary difficulties in older adults and safer alternatives usually are available. Other high-risk medications listed in the Beers' criteria include muscle relaxants (methocarbamol and cyclobenzaprine) and older antidepressants such as amitriptyline.
Excessive or inappropriate use of amitriptyline or sleeping pills may increase the older adults' risk for falls and confusion, according to Anne L. Hume, Pharm.D., professor and chair, department of pharmacy practice at the University of Rhode Island. Beers adds that hip fractures caused by falls are a major cause of disability and death in older adults. "We know that some of these hip fractures are related to medication side effects such as confusion, drowsiness, and imbalance." Beers cites the example of older sedatives and sleeping pills. These medications can accumulate in an older person's body and have been found to double their risk of fracturing a hip.
Disease-Drug Interactions
Even if low-risk medications are correctly prescribed, certain drugs may aggravate medical conditions that are common in this population. Over-the-counter cold remedies that contain antihistamines or certain antidepressants can worsen confusion in those who suffer from Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease, for instance. These same medications also can trigger a prostate problem. Aspirin-like medications can tip the balance of control in those who suffer from heart failure or high blood pressure.
What's more, drug side effects can be difficult to identify accurately and this can have serious consequences. It is not uncommon for doctors to mistakenly believe that a problem caused by a medication reaction is a new illness. Some beta-blockers, commonly used to treat high blood pressure and heart problems, can cause depression. A doctor may inadvertently prescribe yet another medication — an antidepressant — rather than stopping the drug causing the problem, writes Dr. Rosanne M. Leipzig, associate clinical professor in the department of geriatrics and adult development, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Leipzig, in her article published in the February issue of the journal Geriatrics, mentions another example of a drug that can precipitate or worsen a disease. Aspirin-like anti-inflammatory pain medications can raise the blood pressure of those who are susceptible. In such a case, the doctor should not prescribe a blood pressure-lowering medication, but instead should stop the pain reliever.
Chronic medical illnesses and waning liver and kidney function put the body in delicate balance as people age.
Tips For Medication Use By Older Adults
The more medications someone takes the greater the risk for a drug reaction, particularly with increasing age. Furthermore, it is not unusual for doctors to prescribe the same dose of a medication for both a 200-pound athlete and a 90-pound older adult with chronic illnesses. Weight and size do matter. Muscle (lean body) mass drops with aging as the body stores more fat cells. Body size, percent fat, and how lubed and primed the kidneys are can significantly affect dosing of popular drugs such as antibiotics (cephalosporins, penicillins, quinolones), heart drugs (digoxin, atenolol, ACE inhibitors), and even the household pain reliever acetaminophen. Taking medication comes down to a risk vs. benefit analysis and a few basic guidelines:
- Always try available non-drug treatments such as dietary changes and exercise as your first approach to managing a medical condition.
- Be certain your doctor periodically reevaluates all medications you take for possible dosage adjustments, drug-drug reactions, drug-disease side effects, and whether a drug can be safely discontinued.
- Always ask if a drug can make you drowsy or dizzy and if there are ways to reduce those effects.
- Tell your doctor about any over-the-counter medications you take as well as herbal remedies. These may interact with prescription medications or have side effects.
- Each time you renew a prescription, be sure you receive the same generic product. Different formulations of a medication can actually contain up to 10 percent more or less of the active ingredient.
- When you get a new prescription, clarify with your doctor how long you must use that medication and how it should be taken.
- Use your pharmacist as a resource for reviewing all medications to check for interactions. This strategy is particularly useful if your doctor seems rushed when going over your medication.
- Be prepared with the right tools for the job. Purchase a pill splitter if you take only half a pill, as long as your pharmacist says that drug can be split. A large magnifying glass can be useful for reading directions or warnings in small print. Many inexpensive pill bottle openers can help those who have difficulty opening child safety caps. In fact, if you tell your pharmacist you cannot open safety caps and you have no children prancing around your house, the pharmacist will use a cap that opens with less effort.
- Consider buying one of many pill-dispensing gadgets to help you develop a system for properly taking all your medication. Check your local pharmacy or search the Web.
- Consider signing up for one of many available Internet services that send medication-taking reminders. Reminders can be in the form of telephone calls, emails, or a beeper.
Source: Reprinted with permission from Psych Central. Psych Central does not recommend or endorse any company advertised on this site.
Last reviewed: August 30, 2006 | Last updated: August 30, 2006
Copyright © 1992-2008 Psych Central. All rights reserved.


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Sadly, politics has again reared its ugly head again in the simple act of counting the population of the United States, as required by Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution: "The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."
Sadly, the simple words of "in such Manner as they shall by Law direct" has been debated by various political groups as to what data is to be collected. I have written before about the latest simple issue: should a U.S. resident be asked about his or her citizenship? You can see my past articles about this issue by starting at: https://blog.eogn.com/?s=2020+census.
The simple question about asking about citizenship in the 2020 US Census has resulted in at least six lawsuits.
Now the Census Bureau will move ahead this summer to TEST a citizenship question in a nationwide survey. This is not a final decision on whether or not to include the question in the 2020 census. Instead, the bureau says it wants to find a way to draw the largest number of responses, as well as to prepare its staff, in case the courts decide the question is appropriate for the national census.
You can find many articles describing this issue in detail by starting at: http://bit.ly/2UHylEJ.


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SANFORD — Sanford Vineyard Church, located at 77 Emery Street, will offer a free clothing giveaway on Friday, May 17, from 1 to 6 p.m. and on Saturday, May 18, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The church needs help setting up for the event on May 13 and 14; please call 324-7776 if you're able to assist. The church also is accepting clothes for boys and girls.SANFORD — The Sanford Unitarian Universalist Church, 5 Lebanon St., opens its nonfood pantry, the Corner Cupboard, at Goodall Hall on the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pantry will be open on Saturday, May 18. According to the church's website, the Corner Cupboard is dedicated to "honoring the integrity and worth of all individuals. We do not discriminate based on people's needs." Items available through the Corner Cupboard include personal hygiene items, paper goods, trash bags, laundry and dish detergent, cleaners, sponges, cat litter, pet food, Band-Aids, first aid cream, batteries, light bulbs, diapers, and other baby supplies. The pantry also offers educational assistance in areas such as literacy, health, community resources and financial responsibility. For more information, call 324-3191.
If you would like to see your support group or program or service placed here, please send the information to Editor Shawn Sullivan at email@example.com.


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Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College
The mirror is a familiar space where the true self is secretly reflected. My work explores feelings of self-worth in our image-obsessed society, and looks at how individuals see themselves in the mirror. These photographs allow the audience entry into this private world. I photographed the girls through a one-way mirror while music was played to provoke a range of emotions. As the girls looked at themselves, my unseen camera captured unguarded moments of self-reflection.


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A Charlottesville consumer primer
Few things are more thrilling to me than listening to both sides of a dispute between a consumer and a business, then doing the legwork– whether it's showing up unannounced at the business to gauge customer-service skills, studying court records to see if there's a pattern of similar behavior, interviewing experts, or combing the results of a Google search– and finally, in 700 words or less, summarizing the situation for my readers.
If you're at a standstill in a consumer dispute and would like me to get involved, here are my ground rules. (1) I have to have permission to use your name in print; the only exceptions are when there's a threat of legal repercussions or humiliation, or when use of confidential information (e.g., a medical history) is necessary. (2) I reserve the right to publish the results of my investigation. That doesn't mean that every contretemps I look into ends up in the column, just that whether I'll write about your contretemps is up to me.
That also doesn't mean I'm not interested in hearing from you unless you agree to those conditions; I'm always eager to be in contact with readers, no matter what they have to say. Some of my most valuable information has come from consumers who either don't want their stories published or who prefer to remain anonymous and simply pass along information or tips. Also, readers often contact me after a column has run to point out an aspect they feel I overlooked or mishandled.
Finally, don't assume I'm biased against business, because I'm not; I used to own a business– which was a spectacular failure– and I have great respect for anyone who can do that job well. Besides, if there's anything that fascinates me more than a misbehaving merchant, it's a wacky, obnoxious, or dishonest consumer.
My preferred way to hear from readers is via email at firstname.lastname@example.com, but you can also write me at 100 Second St. NW, 22901, or call me at 295-8700, ext. 460.
Suggestions for how to handle some common consumer situations follow, culled from my columns (and, in the case of title-washing, a cover story). To read the columns cited, go to our website at readthehook.com, click on "Archives from Previous Issues" and then on the appropriate issue date. The column is usually near the bottom of the table of contents– or you can go to the Fearless Consumer archives, below.
Do you have a consumer problem or question? Email the Fearless Consumer, write her at 100 Second St. NW, 22902– or call 295-8700 ext. 406.


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Arapahoe County Sheriff via AP
Aurora massacre suspect James Holmes, shown here in a photo released by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. A federal lawsuit has accused the University of Colorado of failing to stop his rampage.
The widow of an Aurora massacre victim has filed a lawsuit against the University of Colorado, claiming a school psychiatrist could have prevented the slaughter by having cops lock up student James Holmes after he "fantasized about killing a lot of people."
The case could be the first of several actions against the university, which received 11 notices of possible lawsuits from victims' families before a 180-day deadline for state filings expired this week.
"I believe any lawsuits would not be well-founded either legally or factually," university counsel Patrick O'Rourke said, adding that he could not comment further because of doctor-patient confidentiality.
The suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver by Chantel Blunk, wife of Navy veteran Jonathan Blunk, alleges that Dr. Lynne Fenton "knew that James Holmes was dangerous" after the grad student told her on June 11 that he wanted to kill.
"Fenton had a duty to use reasonable care to protect the public at large from James Holmes," the suit says.
Fenton notified a campus threat-assessment team about her concerns, but turned down a police officer's offer to arrest Holmes and put him under a 72-hour psychiatric hold, court papers say.
Blunk was one of 12 people killed when Holmes allegedly opened fire during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20. The 26-year-old father of two died shielding another moviegoer from bullets.
It appears the claims in his widow's suit are based on published reports about Holmes' meeting with Fenton and the actions she took afterward, since much of the evidence in the case is still under wraps.
The suit doesn't specify damages except to say it's more than $75,000.
Tom Russell, a University of Denver law professor, said Blunk's was filed in federal court because she lives in Nevada, but it's subject to the same restrictions as an action in state court. That includes a limit on total damages to $600,000 for all plaintiffs in cases against the government.
It's unclear how many of the 11 notices the university has received will result in suits, but Russell said he thinks the chance of success of any potential suits is low.
Although what Holmes said to Fenton has not been made public because of doctor-client privilege, it appears that it was vague enough that the psychiatrist would not have been legally bound to act on the threat, Russell said.
Ed Andrieski/AP
Chantel Blunk, widow of Jonathan Blunk, shown on the left after a preliminary hearing for James Holmes this month.
Holmes reportedly sent a notebook to Fenton that may contain more specifics, but since the psychiatrist didn't receive it until after the rampage, she can't be held liable for what's in it, Russell added.
"A lawsuit against the shooter himself is a winning lawsuit," the professor said. "But he has no assets."
Several families have also filed lawsuits against Cinemark, owner of the movie theater, which is set to reopen Thursday.
A judge has given prosecutors the go-ahead to put Holmes on trial, but he won't be arraigned until March. In the face of overwhelming evidence, he's expected to mount an insanity defense, which would remove doctor-patient privilege and reveal more about his dealings with Fenton.


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Love's Travel Stops is completing the addition of an RFID-enabled payment system at its travel stop locations, saying it's the first travel stop company to give customers the ability to process payment at the diesel bay through radio frequency technology.
The radio frequency system operates through a secure, low-cost RFID tag placed on a truck's windshield. The tag is detected by an antenna installed in diesel lanes at Love's locations. The electronic signal turns the fuel pump on and off and completes a payment transaction with little driver interaction.
RFID technology is easy for drivers to use, is a major fuel theft deterrent, and provides more accurate payment tracking information, Love's says.
"A gallon of diesel fuel costs roughly $4. If RFID technology can eliminate just 1% of fuel theft or other unauthorized fuel purchases, the trucking company has saved four cents per gallon," explains Jon Archard, director of fuel marketing for Love's.
Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution, El Paso, Texas, has more than 100 trucks on the road using the RFID payment system at Love's.
"It's a huge benefit to us by saving time at the pump and ultimately, money," said Scott McLaughlin, president of Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution. "The entire transaction is quicker and because the process is automated, we are assured that every gallon of fuel we purchase for our trucks is going into our tanks."
Loves's has more than 300 locations and 160 Love's Truck Tire Care centers in 39 states, and will open 25 more travel stops this year.
Read more about RFID and other high-tech fueling options in HDT's March technology feature, "High-Tech Savings at the Fuel Island."


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Writer, editor, publicist P.J. Shaw [a.k.a. Meg McLaughlin] has authored her share of Sesame Street books, all published by Dalmatian Press. In a recent interview at WritingSnacks.com, she remarked, "My favorite things to do are to help aspiring authors get published and write Sesame Street books. I would live on Sesame Street if I could." We recently had the chance to review a few of Shaw's books.
"Abby, Abby, quite Cadabby, How does your alphabet grow? With ABC -- then letters to Z! Twenty-six, all in a row." - Storybook ABCs by Meg McLaughlin, illustrated by Tom Brannon
Storybook ABCs is an adorable blend of fairy tales, nursery rhymes, the ABCs and famous Sesame Street characters all combined together in one little paperback book. Starting with the letter A and ending with Z, each page shows Sesame Street characters role playing in beloved tales and rhymes. For instance, the letter S page depicts the Count and Countess gazing up and counting the stars, along with an accompanying poem, a sparkled up version of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." Author McLaughlin writes with humor and wit and makes sure that each page contains several words starting with the featured letter.
I really enjoyed reading this book with my preschooler. We had fun discussing all the tales and rhymes in the book. While my daughter loved looking at all the colorful illustrations and checking out all the words, I probably appreciated the silly text even more than she did. I'm all for changing the words to familiar rhymes, so long as the reader already experienced the originals. Extending rhymes encourages creativity and there is plenty of that in this book. Some favorites of mine include CinderElmo, the three little pigs named Pear, Plum and Peach and Miss Muffet's mud soufflé. My daughter like T for Tower, with Grover trying to climb up Zoe's long hair and exclaiming, "Um...what a tremendous tower to tackle." The word "fútball" had me a little confused though...is that the correct Spanish term for soccer ball? Either way the book is a fun, lighthearted addition to our nursery rhyme book collection.
P.J. Shaw also adapts children's books for younger readers. One of her newest books, My First Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (A Touch & Feel & Sparkle Book) takes little ones on a short adventure in Wonderland. Five pages of text summarize the classic story so that toddlers and preschoolers can learn about Alice and a few of the other characters. The touch and feel pages show a fluffy-eared White Rabbit with pink eyes, Alice falling into a well lined mirrors, a sparkly Caterpillar on a mushroom, a soft Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter wearing a satin bow tie. With Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie releasing early next year, this book is a fun, interactive way to introduce and teach young children about the classic story.
In celebration of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, P.J. Shaw [Meg McLaughlin] has kindly offered to give away a signed copy of one of her Elmo Sesame Street books: Love, Elmo illustrated by Tom Brannon.
To enter, leave a comment with your favorite Sesame Street character or favorite Sesame Street book.
• For contact purposes, if you are a non-blogger or your email is not accessible in your blog profile, please leave a valid email address within the comment section.Three ways to gain extra entries (Maximum total entries is 4):
• Contest is open to US only
• Contest ends on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 11:59 PM CST.
• Winners will be chosen at random and notified by email
1st extra entry: Follow Me! or subscribe by email or RSS reader
2nd extra entry: Blog about this contest then post your link in the comment section.
3rd extra entry: Follow me on twitter (iambrimful) and tweet about the contest.
Book Source: Review copies provided for free by author (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.)


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'music' tag.
by Lydia Krupinski
Tis the season for holidays, food, family and friends. As some people prep for the fellowship, reflections, and feastings of Thanksgiving, others around the country are already salivating at the midnight shopping promises of big box stores and retail chains. While the term Small Business Saturday may not be as catchy as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the first Saturday after Thanksgiving has been designated as such to encourage consumers to support the vendors in their own communities.
In the spirit of this week's holiday and the upcoming shopping stampedes Sprout Chicago would like to highlight a group that's launching a special campaign to remind Chicagoans to spend their dollars locally this holiday season. Urban Folk Circuit is a group dedicated to supporting and growing the handmade craft and music community in the city. Started in July of 2010, the team unites artisans from around Chicagoland in monthly traveling craft shows that highlight the diverse talents and skills of handmade business owners.
Sprout Chicago caught up with Kelli and Jess, super-crafter extroadinaires and founders of Urban Folk Circuit, to pick their brains about crafting in the city and their latest campaign: Shop Chicago for the Holidays.


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text: We train all breeds of Iowa gun dogs, including: German Shorthair pointers, Wirehair, Vislas, Brittany's, Labs, and Springer Spaniels. We also have German Shorthair Pointers for sale as well as started/finished Iowa hunting dogs. We test our dogs in AKC and NAVHDA events. At Countryside Gundogs, your hunting companion will receive the personal attention they need because we train only a limited amount of hunting dogs at once to ensure each dog will reach their full potential. We will train your Iowa hunting dog to any level you would like them to reach. From basic obedience, to labs going on blind retrieves with hand signals to guide them, to pointing dogs achieving AKC master hunter title or all levels of NAVHDA. Countryside is a Iowa hunting dog trainer that understands that each hunting dog learns at different speeds and that no two dogs are the same. We adjust our Iowa hunting dog program to fit each individual dog. Before you leave your hunting companion with Countryside for training, we will go over different programs that best fit your needs. During the training process you will receive updates so you can track their individual hunting dog training progress. Countryside will be completely upfront and honest with your dogs' abilities. There have been several dogs over the years that began as just a bird dog and became a AKC master hunter because that special something came out in training and we decided to go to the next level.


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There's a new face in Downtown Abbey, and he looks like he's been using plenty of Dapper Dan.
George Clooney will be making an appearance in a special mini episode of the show as part of a fundraiser for ITV called Text Santa.
A very gif-able teaser clip released this week gives you a first look at his character who turns around and smiles after being approach by Lady Cora (Elizabeth McGovern).
The actual video will air as part of the special in the UK on December 19.


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The luscious sound of Lutz spruce and solid Indian rosewood with high-class appointments.
Taylor's redesigned rosewood/spruce 700 Series guitars are the latest in the Taylor line to showcase an inspiring tonal and visual makeover. The result is a bolder musical voice with a refreshed visual aesthetic that blends rootsy appeal with warm, wood-rich details to give the series a distinctive musical personality. Tonal upgrades include a switch from Sitka spruce to Lutz spruce, which produces a powerful tonal response comparable to older, high-grade Adirondack spruce, and gives players a higher volume ceiling. Two other tone-enhancing refinements include Taylor's new Performance bracing and the use of protein glue for the bracing and bridge. Together with the Lutz top they optimize the tonal response, capturing all of rosewood's classic richness and strengthening the fundamental focus. These guitars promise to give back to players everything they put in and then some. New appointment details include non-figured koa binding; a 3-ring herringbone-style rosette featuring mirrored, bias-cut Douglas fir with maple/black trim; top edge trim of bias-cut end-grain Douglas fir with maple/black accents; a new "Reflections" fretboard inlay in pale green abalone; and a new weathered brown pickguard with a matte finish. A new Western sunburst top option is also available, adding an earthy honey-brown complexion for a darker vintage look. The 712e also includes Taylor Expression System 2 electronics.
This 712e comes with a Taylor deluxe hardshell case.
Grand Concert
Taylor's Grand Concert is slightly smaller that its Grand Auditorium and yields controlled overtones, so the sound won't occupy a lot of sonic space. This is often a key consideration when other instruments are in the mix, such as in a performance or recording environment, and it allows the guitar to be heard more clearly. The Grand Concert pairs well with both 14-fret and 12-fret neck-to-body construction and offers an articulate voice with top-end chime. It's perfect for fingerstyle players and light strummers, though flatpickers are known to enjoy its tonal character too. Its intimate size makes it lap/couch-friendly, and a great fit for players who find smaller instruments more physically comfortable.
Tonewood Pairing
A guitar's top is the primary filter and distributor of vibrating string energy through the guitar, which means it has a huge impact on its sound. The 712e features Lutz Spruce, a naturally occuring hybrid of Sitka and White spruce. Sitka is the most prevalent guitar top wood of the modern era because it blends stiffness and elasticity in just the right proportions which translates into broad dynamic range with crisp articulation. Lutz spruce takes these attributes and blends them with those of White and Englemann spruce, with an end result resembling old Adirondack spruce. When combined with Taylor's bracing architecture, guitars are more powerful, richer and louder than before. The 712e's solid Indian rosewood back and sides complement the Lutz top with sound that's made it one of the most popular tone woods ever. Rosewood produces the strongest bass response among the tone woods commonly used for guitars, with a slightly scooped midrange. Rosewood's sweeping frequency range – deep lows that assert a throaty growl with sparkling highs – rings out with bell-like, high-fidelity clarity. It yields a full-range acoustic voice with complex overtones and extended sustain.
ES2 Electronics
Taylor's ES2 is a revolutionary pickup design that delivers the latest in Taylor's ongoing innovation in acoustic guitar amplification. The heart of the Expression System 2 is Taylor's patented behind-the-saddle pickup, which features three uniquely positioned and individually calibrated pickup sensors. Because the pickup doesn't sit under the saddle, the bottom of the saddle comes in full contact with the bridge, allowing all the nuance of the guitar's tone to come through clearly whether playing acousticly or plugged-in. The location of the sensors enables a more dynamic range of acoustic sound to be captured than ever before while playing plugged-in. Together with Taylor's custom-designed "professional audio"-grade preamp, this system produces exceptional amplified tone and responsiveness. On stage through a PA, plugged into your favorite acoustic amplifier, or direct into recording software, the Expression System 2 faithfully conveys the voice of your Taylor guitar. The Taylor Expression System 2 operates through a proprietary 9-volt battery compartment and easy-to-use volume, bass and treble controls.


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After over a decade of work on Duke Nukem Forever ended with the unceremonious firing of the game's development team (and a critically panned release under replacement developer Gearbox), it appears that storied PC developer 3D Realms has finished licking its wounds. The company is gearing up to get back into the first-person shooter game, seeking crowdfunding to revive a previously shuttered project called Earth No More.
3D Realms had been working on Earth No More with Finnish developer Recoil Games (known for side-scrolling shooter Rochard) since the game was announced way back in 2007. The game, which focuses on a small band of humans struggling to survive after an environmental apocalypse, even had a release date set in 2009 before being put on hold later that year, amid a copyright infringement lawsuit over the concept.
While 3D Realms revived the project back in June, the under-the-radar effort wasn't widely noticed until today with the official launch of Gambitious, a new game-focused crowdfunding site. Gambitious differs from similar efforts like Kickstarter by letting investors have a small equity stake in the eventual profits of a game, providing them with more incentive to ensure success of the efforts (though current SEC rules currently prevent US citizens from taking part in such profit-sharing). 3D Realms founder Scott Miller sits on the advisory board for Gambitious, and says he sees the site as a brave new model for the game industry. "Why just donate to projects when you can become an owner? The game industry just got a lot more interesting."
3D Realms hasn't actually started accepting donations for Earth No More on the site just yet, but gamers eager to see the company come back can follow the project on the site to stay up to date on its progress.


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"Survival of the Fittest"
SUOTF MMA Shorts, formerly known as SOFT, are specifically designed to meet the demands of combat athletes. Ideal for combat sports as well as BJJ athletes and fighters with grappling styles.
- Perfect for BJJ & Grappling Style
- Super comfortable
- Features 4-way stretch performance fabric
- Adjustable Waistband closure featuring hook & loop enclosures
- Light Weight Material
NOTE: Sizes run smaller than you would expect. See sizing chart or feel free to ask if you have any questions on sizing. Rule of thumb is get a size larger than normal.
Received shorts and they don't fit quite right? Just reach out to use and we can take care of you. All you have to do is send it to our address here in the United States. Upon return, we will refund you and you can reorder in the size you desire.
Please do not send your purchase back to the manufacturer.
Once your return is received and inspected, we will send you an email to notify you that we have received your returned item and authorized the refund. Then your refund will be processed, and a credit will automatically be applied to your credit card or original method of payment, within a certain amount of days.
Late or missing refunds (if applicable)
If you haven't received a refund yet, first check your bank account again. Then contact your credit card company, it may take some time before your refund is officially posted. Next contact your bank. There is often some processing time before a refund is posted. If you've done all of this and you still have not received your refund yet, please contact us at.
Sale items (if applicable)
Only regular priced items may be refunded, unfortunately sale items cannot be refunded.
You will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item. Shipping costs are non-refundable. If you receive a refund, the cost of return shipping will be deducted from your refund.
If you are shipping an item over $75, you should consider using a trackable shipping service or purchasing shipping insurance. We don't guarantee that we will receive your returned item.


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Now that everyone has had a chance to sit back and come to the collective realization that "Sex and the City 2" was, shall we say, not so good (one may even be tempted to call it "a Molotov cocktail of cultural awfulness"), it's the perfect time to kick around some "Sex and the City 3" rumors!
But hold on - word is that that we won't be forced to watch Kim Cattrall run around spouting innuendo until she eventually became a made-for-Cinemax Betty White. There seems to be a plan in place to take a page from the George Lucas playbook and make a prequel.
The "wish list," according to the Daily Mail, includes Blake Lively as Samantha Jones, Selena Gomez as Charlotte York, Emma Roberts as Miranda Hobbes, and Elizabeth Olsen as Carrie Bradshaw.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
The project is believed to be culling from "Sex" author Candace Bushnell's novels "The Carrie Diaries" and "Summer and the City," which track the foursome during their teens and twenties.
Not that you need to have read a Bushnellian sentence to guess exactly what each girls' plotline will be. Our humble attempt:
Samantha: Was once a...wait for it...prude! Really! And then she had an orgasm once and it changed the course of her life forever.
Charlotte: Let's see....Oh! She once had a wild side! But then something happened (her "bad boy" phase ended badly when she realized bad boys were bad) and she became a born-again stick in the mud. And if the casting rumor is true, she was also Latino before become a WASP.
Carrie: When she first got to Manhattan she had....No fashion sense! At all! She wore, like, acid-washed jeans and mom sweaters. Then she went shopping on Fifth Avenue once and it changed the course of her life forever.
Miranda: Was actually always an unlikable complainer with no plots worthy of attention or interest. Whoda thunk?
C'mon. We kid. But at least rom-com fans will potentially get to experience the crushing prequel disappointment that sci-fi fans know all too well.


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It is 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time, on Monday 11/21/11, and the news has just come in from The Netherlands: the judge ruled against the young orca Morgan and she faces a life in captivity. (Morgan is a juvenile killer whale, or orca, who was found alone in Dutch waters on June 23, 2010 and has been cared for since then by the Harderwijk Dolphinarium. She must now go to Spain and live in an amusement park with SeaWorld's whales). Within minutes Twitter and Facebook began to light up with the news :
From Free Morgan Foundation's Facebook page:
Today is a very sad day. After a year of fighting for the rights of Morgan and other whales in the future the unbelievable verdict is: Morgan can go to Loro Parque.


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The Best Ice Cream Sandwich Features You've Never Heard About
(Photo: Engadget.com)
Think you know everything there is to know about Android's latest OS? If, like me, you're not so adept when it comes to arguing with friends over the benefits of ICS over its competitors (besides highlighting special features like Face Unlock) then you'll want to continue reading.
Here are a few of the best Android Ice Cream Sandwich features you've probably never heard about:
- Android Ice Cream Sandwich can save all of your e-mails from the past 30 DAYS for offline browsing! We knew it had cacheing power, but damn!
- You can also save webpages for offline browsing, for those times when you're using your phone in Airplane mode but don't want to miss this morning's headlines.
- ICS's browser allows you to leave up to 16 webpages open at the same time. Boom!
- There's now an equalizer baked into ICS, allowing you to mess with bass and 3D effects.
- Android's new dictation software allows you to add smiley faces to text messages simply by saying "smiley face." Ha. A small thing, but nice, no?
- About that dictation software: it seems to have improved quite a lot over older versions, and can update messages as you talk, rather than forcing you to wait for it to process your statement.
- The visual voicemail API is buried in the software, meaning it'll probably be used by various carriers on future permutations of ICS on other devices. But yay! Visual voicemail is a real treat.
- ICS contains software that can read the temperature and humidity of the air around it. Yes, you heard right, folks: future Androids are one step closer to becoming full on personal meteorologists.
Source: Engadget


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The North Davidson Arts District, affectionately known as NoDa, is a former mill neighborhood that has been transformed into a funky arts district with galleries, eateries and performance halls. Just three miles northeast of uptown, the neighborhood once known as North Charlotte is made up of mostly small Craftsman style bungalows built at the turn of the century to house workers at textile mills. The district also has an increasing number of new condos and townhomes, including some in converted mills. Many historic bungalows have undergone renovation, and affordable home prices in NoDA attract new home buyers who like proximity to center city Charlotte, with an eclectic, neighborhood feel.
Don't miss: Friday Gallery Crawl, on the first and third Fridays of the month. Concerts at The Evening Muse, or casual southwest dining at Cabo Fish Taco.


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Thursday grains finished higher along with most commodities after the Fed Decision for more quantitative easing. December corn settled 4 ¼ cents higher at $7.73 ¾, November soybeans 1 ½ cents higher at $17.47 ¼, and December wheat 12 cents higher at $9.02.
Export sales were strong for corn and meal and in-line with estimates for the other products. Wheat was also supported from the fact that Egypt's GASC bought a total of 235,000 MTs of wheat for late November sourced between Russia and France. Besides exports, the main market talk revolved around the reaction to the FOMC's decision for QE3.
The Fed will now purchase $40 Billion of mortgage backed securities every month with NO defined end date. Operation Twist will continue through the end of this year. Furthermore, they extended their forward guidance to keep rates exceptionally low through mid 2015. What does this mean? The Fed is doing everything it can to keep rates low and pump liquidity. When you create a situation of excess dollars they become more abundant and worth less, thus requiring more of them to purchase hard assets like commodities. We saw a notable increase in the price of precious metals with gold trading $40+ an ounce higher on the day and silver $1.50+ an ounce higher. We also saw a notable increase in the grain markets as the dollar fell to new lows not seen since May. If the US Dollar Index continues to head lower, we may see an overall supportive tone continue in the commodity markets.
The biggest surprise to the market was the new crop corn yield of 122.8 with unchanged harvested acres (87.4 million). The average analyst estimate was 120.6 with 86.173 million acres. Naturally this resulted in a much higher US Corn Ending Stocks number at 733 million bushels (market estimate was 592 million).
Not only was the US corn carryout above expectations, the world carryout was another 3 million MTs more than the average guess. Even though these supply numbers are quite low, they were still above the expectations which is why we had a negative reaction on the report day. The EIA ethanol report was also a little "bearish" with lower production and higher stocks. Another aspect to consider is the negative technical formation December corn has right now.
Soybeans on the other hand obviously had a very positive reaction to the report. The report wasn't overly bullish from carryout as much as it was for US production. The market was calling for yields to drop to 35.5 bpa and the USDA September estimate was 35.3. The average analyst estimate for total US production was 2.657 billion bushels and the USDA came in at 2.634 billion. The US Soybean data was slightly "bullish" while the World supply was a little more than the market had anticipated. The USDA left South American production unchanged (Argentina at 55 MMTs and Brazil at 81 MMTs).
The USDA wheat supply estimates were generally higher than the market's expectations. The USDA did lower the Russian wheat crop by 4 MMTs but left the Australian and Canadian crops unchanged.
This report was not far-enough away from market expectations to create a large change of opinion going forward. The final stocks report for corn and soybeans may be the next major market mover at the end of the month.
Please contact EHedger at 866-433-4371 if you would like to try our proprietary farm management software called AMMO. To learn more please visit www.ammoag.com.
Best Regards,
Trading commodity futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and may not be suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider whether trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, knowledge and financial resources. The market information contained in this message has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed as to its accuracy or completeness. Market information may not be consistent with current or future market positions of EHedger LLC, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees or agents.


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Heart-warming stories of armed self-defense are popping up all the time. This one comes from Alabama:
Martha Lewis of Dora, Ala. told WVTM-TV it was about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning when she heard a loud noise, which turned out to be someone kicking in her door. Lewis said she called the police and grabbed her gun, then went to her daughters' room and told them each to get something to defend themselves with. She said one grabbed an ax and one got a butcher knife.
Heh. A North Carolina gun blog comments:
When momma's got a gun and her two daughters can quickly lay their hands on a butcher knife and an axe, you've become the very definition of "failure in the victim selection process."
Yes. The failure went downhill from there:
Ignoring her warnings, the man kept coming — and that's when Lewis said she fired. …
The man stumbled outside into the yard where police found him, WVTM reported. Police said he's 25-year-old Michael Jacobs and was hospitalized in stable condition.
Lewis told the station one of the responding police officers said it would have been a different situation if she hadn't been armed. "One of them said we would be writing up a different report if she had not had that gun," Lewis said.
Burglars aren't generally afraid of the police, but they do fear armed homeowners. This one should consider himself lucky that he was dispatched before the daughters' ax and butcher knife came into play.
Via Glenn Reynolds, who adds:
Honestly, when you decide to stage a home invasion in Alabama, you've already made a big mistake.
That goes double for my home state of South Dakota, where shotguns are ubiquitous, and home breakins are virtually unknown.


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This dog is confused about where I'm hiding my left leg.
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www.bungie.net | halo.bungie.net | bungiestore.com
The Bad News First
Recently, we've seen a moderate influx of things appearing in File Shares that don't belong there. Some this is just tweaked content from Halo 3 that has been uploaded in sundry and illegal fashions. In fewer cases, there have been a relatively small number of incidents of folks uploading inappropriate non-game content to the File Share.
Fair warning: Users who have modified content on their File Share - regardless of who created said content - will be subjected to the full power of the Banhammer's thrust. This includes some never-before-unleashed technology that will effectively terminate your Halo multiplayer experience online in every imaginable facet. In fact, the ban is so thorough that simply calling it the Banhammer is a complete understatement. I just couldn't come up with a more hyper-exaggerated term that had the same feel. Banplatform? Banpocalpyse? Banmageddnon? None of those did the trick.
Seven Billion kills in Halo 3's Campaign before July 7th? Well, four days before July 7, ya'all are about 120M dead Covenant/Flood short of your lofty goal. If those were weekdays, I'd still have my doubts – and mathematically, it's going to be pretty tough to get done – but it is a holiday weekend on U.S. soil, so maybe, just maybe, the Internet will pull it together and turn that six in the billion column into a seven.
Note: I asked Rocketmoose if we could tweak the database to make it look like great success for the Internet, but he said I did enough lying on a daily basis that he was unwilling to enable further mistruth. I tried!
Sounds of Science
The next episode of the Bungie Podcast has splorted out of the sausage machine. There's a whole lot of meat ground up and encased in an mp3-formatted intestine and it will make its way from the Internet to your ears on 7/7, barring unforeseeable, inconceivable levels of tragedy.
Guests include: Lars Bakken, Shishka, Producer Allen Murray, Security Expert Jerome Simpson, IT Manager and Podcast Engineer Steve Lopez, Producer Joe Tung and Mission Architect Chris Carney. The room was full of men.
Save roughly 95 minutes of your day on Monday for the Bungie Podcast.
Cold Storage: Priced, Dated
By now you've hopefully read Sketch's Humpday against the Wonder Triplets, you've probably seen some Cold Storage screenshots and checked out the overhead perspective of the map. That seems like pretty much par for the map reveal course and next week, we'll have a Q&A with some of the mapmakers to commemorate Cold Storage's release.
Cold Storage will be available for free beginning on July 7, Bungie Day, on Xbox Live Marketplace.
Additionally, don't forget to grab the one-day-only free gamerpics and theme on 7/7.
Beginning on July 7, there will be a 48-hour long seven-player FFA playlist in Halo 3's Matchmaking where you can turn the calendar back to 2001 and control Rockets, Invis and Snipe.
For now, Cold Storage will be implemented in regular rotation in playlists that require the Legendary Maps. To avoid confusion, playlists that previously required the Legendary Maps will now remind players that they need "all Maps" to participate, and since Cold Storage is free, it shouldn't be a big deal for you to grab the map on July 7 and then return to your regularly scheduled business in SWAT.
Additionally, on 7/7, Microsoft is dropping the price of the Legendary Map Pack from 800 spacebucks to 600 spacebucks. That price drop does mean that purchases after 7/7 will no longer include the Bungie Pro bonus.
We're trying to churn one last thing out today regarding Cold Storage, and we hope to have that for you folks later this afternoon. We're just squeezing it through the download system this morning. If something cataclysmic happens and it doesn't get out today, I'll stop drinking beer and consuming grilled meats over the long weekend and get it up for ya'all.
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The object of this game is to bring all the treasures to the starting point while visiting all the locations in the smallest number of moves.
Hint: the distance from one room to the next is always the same.


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We Try the New Chocolate Chip Frappé at McDonald's
Keeping tabs on the chains.
As anyone who survived the recent NYC heat wave can attest, there is no time like a summer day for an icy beverage (which during the day for us generally means nonalcoholic, but we won't judge you).
Luckily, it seems that every restaurant and coffee shop, chain or otherwise, continues to introduce new drinks to quench this additional summer thirst. Here at Serious Eats HQ, we took a taste of the new McCafé Chocolate Chip Frappé currently being offered for a limited time by those unavoidable golden arches.
Part of McDonald's "Flavors of Summer" campaign, the drink ($2.89 for a small) comes topped with a glob of whipped cream along with chocolate and caramel sauces. Underneath the candy-sweet topping, you'll find an icy-meets-milky concoction that may or may not be your idea of a good time depending on your personal preferences. Fans of the Dunkin' Donuts Coolata will feel right at home, as this achieves a similar texture, ending up looking and tasting like a mocha mixed with crushed ice. However, if you're in search of a milkshake, you've come to the wrong place.
Chocolate is the dominant flavor, on its own not too sweet but easily elevated into the sugar stratosphere by stirring in the whipped cream and syrups up top. A slightly bitter aftertaste is the only signal that coffee is involved.
The frappé is advertised as having chocolate chips blended into it, but we didn't detect any real chunks that could've added some textural interest. Perhaps they just were blended so finely that they just got lost in the sweet and icy shuffle.
Have you tried the Chocolate Chip Frappé at McDonald's? What did you think?
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